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Julius II became concerned even before the Cambrai League’s victory at Agnadello of the growing power of the French. The French king, Francis I was a hugely ambitious monarch and had direct or indirect control of large areas of the north of Italy<ref> Mallett, Michael and Christine Shaw. The Italian Wars, 1494–1559: War, State and Society in Early Modern Europe (Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited, 2012), p. 89</ref>. Julius was concerned that France could become the dominant power in Italy and the Papacy could ultimately be reduced to a dependency of the French. Julius II was a powerful advocate of Papal independence but he also hated the French as outsiders and referred to them as ‘barbarians’. In order to curb the growing power of the French he formed a new alliance, that became known as the Holy League. The League comprised the Swiss Cantons, Spain, Venice and several Italian City-States and was formed in 1510<ref> Shaw, p. 134</ref>. In that year, Julius personally led an attack on the French held town of Mirandola, which he captured. The French were left very exposed in Italy and they were defeated by the Swiss at the Battle of Novarra in 1513. Julius was too ill to savor his victory and in the end, the victory of the Holy Alliance was not as decisive as it had first seen. Pope Julius died soon after Novarra and without him the Holy League fell apart. He alone was capable of holding such a disparate collation together and soon the League was dissolved. Without the League the French were once more able to regain their old superiority in Northern Italy after they won a great victory over the Swiss at Marignano in 1515<ref> Mallet and Shaw, p. 113</ref>. They were only driven from Northern Italy by the Spanish armies of Phillip II in the 1550s. The Holy League had initially been very successful and had greatly limited French power in Italy, if Julius had not died, it is quite possible that the League could have expelled Francis I entirely from Italian territory <ref> Guicciardini, Francesco. The History of Italy. Translated by Sydney Alexander. (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984), p. 117</ref>. After the dissolution of the League, the future of Italy was to be decided by two foreign powers, the Valois dynasty in France and the Habsburg, who were Emperors in Germany and kings of Spain. Some historians have blamed Julius for allowing the Hapsburg’s to become entrenched in Italy but had Julius lived, he would have certainly sought to limit their powers. He was always guided by the principle of the balance-of-power in Italy and would have surely formed an anti-Hapsburg League<ref> Mallet and Shaw, p. 113</ref>.